OR ATIO]^ 



DELIVERED JULY 4TH, 1865 



Ei^Eisr, Bi^iE oo., osr. •^. 



By JAMES SHELDON. ^^i-i?s] 



BUFFALO : 

A. M. CLAPP di CO'S MORNING EXPRESS STEAM PRINTING HOUSE. 

1865. • 



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S Z % 



^^OKKESPONDieNC^. 



Eden, Erie Co., July 4, 1865. 
Hon. James Sheldon, Buffalo. 

Sir: — The Oration delivered by you this day received the 
commendation of your fellow-citizens for the dignified and patriotic 
sentiments therein expressed. In order that it may be more exten- 
sively read and appreciated we would respectfully request a copy for 
publication. 

Your fellow-citizens, 

JAMES W. GREEN, WILSON ROGERS, 

THOxMAS RUSSELL, LYMAN OATMAN, 

ELBRIDGE BUNDY, JOHN SHERMAN, 

THOMAS JUDSON, C, S. RATHE UN, 

BENJ. W. SHERMAN, IRA AYER, 

LYMAN PRATT, C. B. PARKINSON, 

AMOS AVERY, ISAAC RUSSELL. 



Buffalo, July 11, 1865. 
Hon. Wilsom Rogers, and others. 

Gentlemen: — Your flattering testimonial relating to the Oration 
delivered by me before the people of the Soudi Towns of Erie County 
on the A.nniversary of our Independence has been placed in my hands 
It was prepared while other cares and duties were pressing upon my 
time, and your kind expression in regard to the humble effbrd is grati- 
fying and unexpected. Hoping that a consideration of the sentiments 
therein expressed may in some measure contribute to the public good, 
I comply with your request. 

Very truly yours, 

.IAS. SHELDON, 



OEATION. 



A NATION'S JUBILEE ! 



The congregated millions hail its annual return. 
The song of rejoicing is blended with the voice of 
prayer and the psalm of thanksgiving in the land of 
our fathers. The freemen of a nation exchange fraternal 
salutations, the republicans of a commonwealth unite to 
celebrate the great event with pageants of triumph and 
festivals of joy. We commemorate the day when 
American Independence was declared before the powers 
and dominions and thrones of earth, when human lib- 
erty was defined, and the natural rights of man enun- 
ciated ; when the chief corner-stone was laid of that 
fabric of political organization which we hope will 
remain under the sun, amongst the posterities and 
endure for ever. 

The men of olden time have long since been gathered 
to the tomb, but you have come forth to venerate their 
memories. Y(m are sons of later generations, strong in 
the assurance that your inheritance cannot be alienated, 
and elevated by the consciousness that you as citizens 



of the Republic enjoy all the privileges and immunities 
with which you can be invested. You have assembled 
in obedience to the summons of that mysterious spirit 
of freedom whose exalting influence pervades every soul, 
like that of the day present and breathing around us 
to the natural world. As you thus unite to celebrate 
the event which resulted in the foundation of our sys- 
tem of formal government, you forget the differences of 
opinion you entertain concerning question of national 
or local policy, you forget the diversity that exists 
among you, of creeds and sects in all matters of faith 
or religion, you acknowledge no distinction of rank or 
wealth ; you all assemble as Americans, as freemen 
having equal and common i-ights and privileges, to join 
heart with heart in thankfulness for our happiness, and 
to indulge the earnest hope that all this may be per- 
petual. You come to awaken the remembrance of the 
past, to dwell in recollection upon the deeds of the 
immortal sages and patriots who established our Re- 
public, and to heap new offerings from your hearts 
upon the altars of our Liberty. 

Well is it, Americans, that you cangregate this day, 
animated by such influences and inspired by such enno- 
bling emotions. You pause upon the eminence of the 
present to look down upon the valley o£ the past, and 
you behold the long, succession of events that led to 
the formation of our government. There was colonial 



allegiance strengthened by ties of love and affection and 
even of veneration, but that allegiance in place of being 
fostered with parental kindness was claimed for pur- 
poses of oppression. The position and importance of 
the colonies were not understood, the respect due to 
their citizens was forgotten, their rights even as subjects, 
of petition and complaint, of exemption from odious 
burthens, even the common rights and immunities en- 
joyed in their native land were ignored. Our fathers 
were not and could not be slaves, for they w^ere men 
of high intelligcDce and inspired with lofty sentiments 
in regard to political and social rights, and as the events 
occured that one by one hastened the inevitable crisis, 
they became aro sed to a full sense of their position 
and thoroughly animated by the consciousness that their 
cause was that of justice and truth and right. 

The crisis came. The conflicts of Concord and Lex- 
ino-ton were but the first scenes enacted in the re vol u- 
tionary drama. At Bunker Hill the chain of British 
dominion was broken and reconciliation became impos- 
sible. Eigthy-nine years ago this day our fathers as- 
serted their independence and then came the long years 
of contest and the final victorious result, A young and 
vigorous republic was ushei-ed into the great family of 
nations, a constitution was established and political as 
well as religious freedom secured among men. The 
results of those memorable events are before the world ; 



8 

they are your glorious inheritance and the sources of 
your national pride ; they constitute a social, moral and 
political system heretofore unknown, and to which the 
nations are pointing as to a beacon of light amid the 
troubles and contentions of earth. 

The important characteristic of the event w^e cele- 
brate, distinguishing it from all occasions of similar im- 
port in the history of nations is, that on that day for 
the first time on earth the true principles of human 
liberty were established. They had been, in other ages, 
vainly hoped for by the uncertain multitude who dwelt 
in the vales beneath the temples of the Acropolis ; they 
had a theoretical existence at the Forum of the Eternal 
City, but the philosopher of Tusculum * dared not to 
hope that the dream of his imagination would ever 
become reality ; they were enunciated at Runnymede in 
Magna Charta, vindicated by Hampden on the battle- 
field, and asserted by Sydney upon the scaftbld ; they 
had life but not vital strensrth in the fastnesses of 
Switzerland ; but they had never been established ; the 
world had never been compelled to recognize the truths 
upon which our system of government is founded, the 
monarchs and kings of earth had never thought that 
the spirit and sentiment which created our liberty could 
be embodied into form and substance, and like a phys- 

* Cicero, Fragm de Eepublica. 



•ical fact have a fixed and actual and living being. It 
was reserved for the era of the American Revolution to 
accomplish this great political fact, not only to declare 
the rights of man, but to define the powers and autho- 
rity of rulers, and to establish in magnitude a Republic 
which we know will be perpetuated among the nations. 
The declaration of the independence of the Colonies was 
but the assertion of those naturl truths which the sages 
and patriots and martyrs of bye-gone centuries had pro- 
claimed, that man is naturally free, that he cannot 
justly be deprived of that liberty without cause, and 
that government was made for man and not man for 
the government ; it was the realization in a later age 
of the hopes they had breathed for human happiness 
and which had ever been repressed by despotism. This 
event therefore is to be distinguished from all others of 
that character as being the most important to humanity, 
by which freedom and liberty as we understand them 
vv^ere rescued fi'om the dominion of power and became 
animated and living realities. The conflict that ensued, 
the struggle duiing long years of suffering and exhaus- 
tion, of peril and of danger was but a physical support 
given to the principles involved, and they have ever 
since and will ever require that support until the unna- 
tural despotism of thrones is annihilated. But the great 
material point was gained when upon the day we com- 
memorate, the representatives of the humble colonies in 



10 

solemn council gave form and expression to the spirit 
that animated the breasts of their countrymen. The 
question of allegiance or independence was solved; the 
rest was but the act of reducing the new elements to 
consistent form ; which resulted in the organization of 
our federal government. 

Our Federal Government, our Union of sovereign and 
independent States, that Union to which we owe our 
grandeur and dignity among the nations, shall we forget 
this day to speak with reference of that compact which 
was the crowning act of the patriotism and self denial 
and wisdom of the men of the Revolution ? When the 
last struggle was ended and peace was I'estored, the colo- 
nies presented a spectale well calculated to fill with alarm 
and apprehension the minds of all who had indulged a 
hope for the great result which was finally accomplished 
by the confederation. Thirteen contiguous nations, inde- 
pendent of each other and of the world were brought into 
existence, connected only by the ties of language and 
origin, and the remembrance of their sacrifices and 
struggles and triumphs in a common cause. The league 
that had existed had accomplished its j^urpose and 
henceforth they were to choose for themselves, either 
to remain dissevered and discordant, or to unite in a 
fraternal association. If they adopted the former alter- 
native, it was to lose in reality all that had been gained 



11 

and a dreadful future was thus presented for considera- 
tion. The wise men of the land knew that there was 
no hope for liberty, for the establishment of enduring 
government unless a brotherhood was formed from all 
the existing elements that should unite the whole land 
in one confederation, under one system, which, while 
the existing sovereignty of each was recognized, would 
still concentrate their physical and moral power through 
the paramount allegiance yielded by all to that confed- 
eration and ensure their perpetuation. They were true 
patriots and sages or it would never have been done. 

Compromise of conflicting opinions and concession of 
rights were required and manfully offered, jealousies 
were allayed and animosities quieted, sacrifices were 
made which we know not of and hopes and prayers 
breathed forth and the clouds that enveloped our des- 
tiny finally rolled away. The result was accomplished 
and the bow of promise stood brightly in our political 
heaven, an omen of the glorious future. Behold how 
fair and lovely the work those artificers of your happi- 
ness constructed, how it has endured amid the storms 
of war and the contentions of foreign foes, and how in 
our days it has resisted the whirlwinds of faction and 
secession and stands more firmly in majestic strength. 

That Union so established is our heritage and boast 
To it, and the principles upon which it is founded, we 
owe our temporal grandeur and the existence of those 



12 

institutions so dear to us and to humanity. It has 
elevated us to the first rank among the nations and 
invested us with dignity and honor and grandeur, It 
is enshrined in the hearts of our citizens as an object 
of patriotic zeal, and you have demonstrated in your 
time a devotion for its preservation which we hope will 
establish it forever. May it be perpetual, may it exist 
with ever increasing splendor, may it stand fast in its 
own integrity and remain in all ages the great bulwark 
of religion against the assaults of infidelity, the great 
conservator of peace and truth and right upon earth, 
the land of refuge and happy home of the suffering 
and distressed of all climes, and the last and most 
glorious hope of Freedom and of Man, 



x\mericans, you hail the coming of this day of na- 
tional rejoicing with feelings of personal emotion inspired 
by the results of the last four years, knowing that the 
pledge your fore-fathers gave to all the world that this 
land should remain as an everlasting temple consecrated 
to liberty has been sacredly redeemed by you in these 
later days of stiife and desolation. The element of 
discord existing co-eval with the adoption of our consti- 
tution and which had oftentimes threatened the de- 
struction of national integrity, culminated in its terrible 
wickedness, and bafHing all the efforts of statesmen and 



13 

patriots to avert the woe, involved our peaceful land 
in all the horror of a civil war. It was the old con- 
tention for mastery between freedom and democracy on 
the one hand, and the spirit of slavery and aristocracy 
on the other, that in all the ages had bathed the earth 
with blood. We understood from our fathers that con- 
cerning all questions and matters of difference which at 
any time might arise in the Councils of the Republic 
there was established and ordained, by usage and com- 
mon consent, a tribunal whose judgments and decrees 
were to be recognized as binding upon the whole peo- 
ple of the Commonwealth. Those decisions, uttered by 
the sovereign will of the majority were promulgated by 
no doubtful oracles ; they were distinct and solemn de- 
terminations commanding acquiescence and respect and 
entitled while unreversed to receive the support of every 
citizen. But when after nearly half a century of strug- 
gle for power in the national councils, the time came 
that the issue between extending slavery over the un- 
polluted domain of the mighty west and confining it 
where it constitutionally existed was submitted to the 
consideration of that august tribunal, and decided ac- 
cording to the hopes and prayers of all friends of 
human liberty in all lands, that arrogant and defying 
spirit sought the arbitrament of the sword to perpetuate 
the hideous wrong that outrages the Christian world. 
You, freedom loving men, dwelling in peace amid the 



14 

hills and mountains of the North were astounded at the 
monstrous pretences, false as the idols of a heathen 
world, which were presented as justifying the dissolution 
of the Union. Still more were you stirred in every 
sense when the storm of war, so unexpected by you 
but so deliberately raised by the people of the Southern 
States came echoing o'er the land, and the flag of our 
fathers was humbled upon the ramparts of Sumter. 
Have you forgotten those terrible days when the stout- 
est hearts stood still and your manhood was prostrated 
as the inevitable crisis in its magnitude was presented ? 
This, your land, so glorious as an inheritance of free- 
dom, consecrated by all the recollections that you com- 
memorate on this festal day, was threatened in its 
territorial integrity and destroyed as a mighty nation of 
the earth. Should you accept the fact as accomplished 
— thenceforth, there was no certainty of existence as a 
government, no faith in law, no established order in 
society ; one wide waste of anarchie and woe, to be 
endured by yourselves and left a wretched legacy to 
your posterity. In that dark hour, so full of moment 
to yourselves and the world, how wonderfully the in- 
fluence of our democratic institutions was exhibited, how 
completely the spirit of American Liberty was justified. 
The whole people with a true appreciation of the 
eventful crisis, acting intelligently concerning their high- 
est interest, with one voice and one will determined 



15 

that the Kepublic should live; that the rebellion should 
be destroyed. The kingdoms of the earth stood amazed 
at a spectacle they could not and would not understand. 
Enemies to our freedom, in our adversity they coun- 
selled our destruction; sycophants in our renewed pros- 
perity, they behold with trembling the progress of our 
democracy. That determination, so founded in your 
hearts and so justified upon all principle, grew stronger 
as doubts of final success and discourasfements arose to 
repress your patuiotic hopes. At the beginning, the 
measure of the contest with Slavery and all its minions 
had not been taken. Your homes gave up their thou- 
sands to support the government of your fathers, you 
poured out the gathered treasures with devotion, but 
there seemed to be no results to crown your sacrifices. 
Slowly but surely the nation became educated to the 
war and the issues involved, new sacrifices of men and 
treasure were demanded by the authorities and by pub- 
lic judgment and these were given with enthusiasm, but 
as yet the contest was undetermined and the vast pro- 
portions of the rebellion unreduced. Then it became 
evident that the time had come when Slavery must 
perish and no longer be recognized as an institution 
even where by law it had been protected, or that the 
Commonwealth would fall and be destroyed. The de- 
cree was sounded through the temples and high places 
of the Republic, proclaiming that henceforth and for- 



16 

ever all men were free; its echoing peal yet resounds, 
not among our hills alone, but over the wide earth, 
telling the whole world of the glory of our laud. 
Again you engaged in the gigantic struggle, severing 
all ties of home, foregoing the delights of peace and 
marching by millions to the battlefield to crusade in 
the holy cause of establishing your government. You 
know how slowly your sacrifices accomplished results, 
but you nor the world will ever forget the example 
you gave of continued hopes sustained by prayers, of 
patient well-doing for the truth, that finally after four 
years of unparalleled devotion gave you the victory. 
Most glorious victory ! triumphs such as were never 
before recorded in the annals of time ! Liberty and 
Union established upon the ruins of Slavery, a hideous 
sin crushed down, and the shrines of truth and justice 
and freedom secured as a perpetual memorial of our 
generation. 

This day, forever hallowed in the annals of our 
nation, you welcome with the enthusiasm inspired not 
only by the recollections of our Revolution, but by the 
glories of the struggle just terminated. You are anim- 
ated by a loftier spirit of personal and national rejoic- 
ing than ever pervaded your hearts upon the return of 
this consecrated day You have more firmly established 
the principles of our hberty and cast out the sin of 



17 

human slavery, you have found new shrines to deck 
with votive oSerings and built up new altars in the 
land whereon the watchfires of our freedom will never 
cease to burn. You know that your devotion has 
wrought a wondrous change and opened new fountains 
of patriotic pride, that you have raised the Common- 
wealth from the verge of ruin and placed it firmly in 
its position of grandeur among the nations of the world. 
Thus animated and thus inspired, you assemble from 
your homes, the men, the women, the children of the 
land, bearing about you the consciousness that you all 
have in some way contributed to the glories of the 
time and with ceremonies proper for the august occa- 
sion give form and expression to those sentiments that 
fill your hearts with joy and happiness. Well is it, 
citizens, that you thus gather, around the temples of 
your love to rejoice that the God who rules all human 
destiny has smiled upon your sufferings and your labors 
and given you the crown of victory. Well will it be, 
if succeeding generations shall gather as you now do, 
acknowledging in humble faith their dependence upon 
His will and animated by the national recollections 
that so freshly cluster around the present and which 
through all the future should inspire the souls and for- 
tify the hearts of Americans. 



18 

We, who come forth this day enjoying the fulness of 
the natural world, are not unmindful of the heroes 
who have gone fo.vth from all the land and who sleep 
in the valley and shadow of death that our country 
might live. They heard the call to arms and a mil- 
lion freemen from our Northern hills laid down the 
implements of peace and marched forth to swell the 
ranks of war. Manhood parted from every association 
of his years, youth sacrificed the tenderest ties of 
home and affection, and all, mindful but of the high 
duty of the citizen gave themselves a mighty host of 
martyrs to the cause of the Republic. Your own fa- 
thers and sons and brothers, who once were with you 
in these abodes of peace went forth to return no more. 
Their once beloved forms lie scattered upon a hundred 
battle fields where life was given in the struggle with 
the dark and rebellious spirit of slavery, or were wasted 
by unutterable tortures, endured until reason and life 
departed in those prison grounds whose names are hor- 
rible to our humanity. Mothers, wives and sisters! you 
alone know what partings have been yours, and what 
sorrows have come to you for those you never more 
will meet on earth. You knew these things might be, 
as you cheerfully gave up the idols of your souls and 
urged them to be brave and death defying in the con- 
test, but you have realized the fulness of grief and the 
cup of agony has been filled. Your offerings upon the 



19 

altars have been most precious, whose memories the 
nation will cherish and venerate forever. Thus do we, 
who survive, commemorate the virtues and the valor of 
those who gave their lives a glorious sacrifice for their 
country's good. We recognize their devotion and their 
patriotic zeal, and with tears that may not fall upon 
their tombs and silent emotion that pervades each sor- 
rowing breast, speak cheerfully of their career of honor 
and award them undying praise. Their memorial will 
stand through all time, not on columns or sepulchral 
inscriptions alone, but in the enduring remembrance of 
all ages. 

To those who have been spared in the carnival of 
war and have returned to enjoy with us the results of 
this contest with anarchy and wrong, we award the 
honors merited by their sufferings and patriotism. This 
day, through all our land, they receive the tributes of 
affection and respect; in days to come they will be 
venerated as survivors of that conflict which regener- 
ated and purified the nation by the baptism of blood. 
You who are here present with us, we welcome as the 
saviours of the Commonwealth ; w^e offer you our gra- 
titude and an abiding place in our chief homes as the 
circling years of age advance. Heroes of the great 
Rebellion! your brows are bound with wreaths that 
decay not, but freshen in all the days to come! Your 



20 

toils and sufferings and privations have not been in 
vain ; your honorable wounds are the sacred emblems 
of your bravery ; receive the rewards you have merited 
by your fortitude and valor. What age has exhibited 
greater virtues, what men bestowed more abundant 
gifts upon their country ! Enjoy the fulness of the 
honors that are yours ; remember that now having 
hung up your armor in the temples of peace, you will 
be citizens with us and that our laws and religions 
look to you for fidelity and support. If you are faith- 
ful to yourselves and regard your duties in the days 
to come, your country and your people will surround 
you with blessings that flow from the institutions you 
have preserved, and each one of you will dwell among 
us and our posterity, your proudest boast that you too 
were soldiers of the Union in the great rebellion. 



All nations have preserved in historic records the 
renown of those whose lives were most illustrious. 
The annals of a dim and obscure antiquity existing 
only in the song, but chaunt the praises of some hero 
or some man whose acts and deeds comprise the story 
of the nations existence. The events occurring to mark 
the centuries in which they transpired were so insepar- 
able from the men who lived and acted and died, that 
their remembrance and the memorial of their deeds is 



21 

the history of the age. The era of our Revolution and 
the formation of our Repubhc is imperishable, and to be 
distinguished from all others by the importance of its 
cliaracteristics, but when centuries shall have rolled 
away, it will be known as the time when Washington 
lived and founded a Commonwealth of freemen. The 
record of his fame will be the record of our nation's 
birth, and his immortal glory will constitute the earlier 
glories of our land. Thus, too, the most endui'ing mon- 
uments of time are but the events conneted with the 
men who made illustrious the ages in which they oc- 
curred. The sage who calmly quaffed the cup of poi- 
son will be eternally remembered not only from 1«ie fact 
but on account of the sublime incidents that attended 
his death ; and he who usurped the liberties of Rome 
and fell when Brutus avenged her wrongs, attained the 
eminence of fame, blending the memory of his country 
inseparably with his own. We who have been called 
to act our part in the wonderful events of the last four 
years, know that we have seen the day which in all 
time will be most memorable to humanity. The 
struggle which from its grand proportions and the im- 
portance of the principles involved convulsed the land 
and agitated the civilizetl world, however vast and ex- 
citiug in the detail of its origin and progress and con- 
clusion, will live in' history as the contest between 
liberty and slavery; between law and order and endur-' 



22 

iDg government, and the spirit of rebellion and wrong. 
The fact that truth and right triumphed over error 
will be impressed upon our annals to the glory of the 
wise and brave men who have won the victory. But 
when it was so ordered that the hideous sin amid its 
ruins and with its last expiring blow committed that 
terrible deed which shrouded the land in mourning, 
then was it that the name of one man became the em- 
bodiment of all that was involved in that contest and 
that victory, and was destined to stand forever the 
ideal of his age. His martyrdom, . while enjoying the 
love and confidence of his people and the praise of all 
men, was so causeless and so terrible that even the 
most envenomed partisan hastened to bestrew his bier 
with flowers. A nation mourned and millions joined 
the long procession to the tomb in funeral rites such 
as never before were accorded, Welcome, Abraham 
Lincoln to the temple of immortality ! Last and most 
glorious martyr upon the roll of time, the countless 
millions in the advancing ages, in the name of human 
liberty bid you welcome to an eternity of fame. 



As we rejoice this day in the inheritance of freedom 
we have received from our fathers and survey the 
beneficent results that even in the few years of our 
existence have become apparent, it becomes us to con- 



23 

Bider thoughtfully the grounds upon which we can 
most safely predicate the hope for their continuation in 
the ages yet to come. It is vain for us to say that 
while our Constitution stands, the Kepublic we love 
will be preserved. Political government is forever 
changing and the wisest of human institutions have in 
themselves but little of stability. The patriotic Eoman 
might have said: 

" While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand," * 

' but that was physical in thought and unsubstantial, for 
all the strength and glory and power and happiness of 
Rome, proceeding from liberty and virtue, did rise and 
grow and perish with them. We would speak of some- 
thing beyond our system of formal government, of the 
regulation and improvement of those customs and laws 
which common usage ordains, of the cultivation of that 
order and virtue which naturally exist among mankind, 
all of which are independent of government and would 
continue were governments to cease ; of that discipline 
of state by which our Republic can be preserved 
and which is the ark of safety to our institutions. 
Yes, although we deem our charters and constitu- 
I tions more pei'fectly calculated than any others to 
' maintain the rights and ensure the happiness of man, 
yet we cannot look to them alone to accomplish these 



* Veuerable Bede. 



24 

results. There exist beyond all these the natural laws 
that bind society together and constitute the state, the 
moral duties of man towards man, which, the more 
they are cultivated, the nearer is he advanced towards 
his proper dignity and the absolute safety and happi- 
ness of the state ensured. The sages of early times 
were content to maintain their characters for wisdom by 
prescribing rules for social life, knowing that these were 
more worthy their consideration than the speculations 
regarding the formality of government, and that the 
greatness of nations was chiefly confirmed by discipline 
and wisdom. The education of man in its most exten- 
sive meaning is the most important element of that 
discipline we would consider. Intellect is the govern- 
ing power in our age ; it is the mind with the gentle 
train of virtues that direct its operations to good works, 
that governs man, and its influence is so extended that 
it rules with a more powerful dominion than Force 
ever exercised. Therefore, if we would lay broad and 
deep foundations whereon to erect an enduring fabric 
of state, how obviously important it is to develope this 
wonderful faculty which more than all others with 
which we are endowed can bless our mortal days, 
which with its developed powers becomes the creator 
and director of earthly things, by whose operations 
nations are formed and governed, civil and religious 
authority established, right maintained and wrong re- 



25 

buked, and the social condition of man advanced and 
perfected. To enlighten the men of our country by 
the diffusion of knowledge is therefore one of the first 
great steps toward national glory and discipline. 
Impress men with correct ideas of their civil rights and 
civil obligations and they will never yield assent to 
any usurpation or submit to any wrong inflicted in the 
name of government. Thus to inform men is to show 
them that they are men, and they will then manifest 
in action a sense of their rights and duties, in a word, 
they will act like men. 

But this improvement of the intellect does not of 
itself educate the heart by developing those good qua- 
lities or awakening those noble emotions of soul to the 
cultivation and exercise of which more than to our 
constitutions and civil laws we must look for the pre- 
servation and happiness of the Commonwealth. Men 
and the qualities of men constitute the state, and we 
must develope the virtues of the heart, those offices 
and duties of man which join us together in the inter- 
course of humanity and are the natural laws of our 
being, which existed and governed man long ere gov- 
ernments ^veve established and would continue to regu- 
late them were they abolished. These qualities may be 
collectively designated by the name of Virtue, which 
comprehending in its practice the exercise of all the 
moral qualities of the heart and the performance of all 



26 



human duties is so desirable and so extended in its 
good influence that it is all important for us to make 
it the object of our zeal, and as we love our country, 
to endeavor to extend its power over man and build 
up in the disciplined and cultivated hearts of our citi- 
zens a stronger and more rational support for the state 
than can ever be atibrded by force or the wisest of 
formal institutions. 

At the banquet of Xenophon th(3 great philosopher 
of the heathen Avorld jjronounced a lofty eulogium upon 
the genius of the Athenian republic when he remarked 
that the commonwealth had always loved those who 
added an indefatigable search for Glory and Virtue to 
the natural goodness of the soul. Indeed, the effect of 
moral discipline and education, in forming o-ood men 
and worthy members of society, in extending the influ- 
ence of the state and elevating it to a more command- 
ing and dignified station was understood and appre- 
ciated by the nations of antiquity, and in our later time 
we may rest assured that our social organization is radi- 
cally defective unless the moral principles of our natures 
are quickened and cultivated and made powerful to 
accomplish good through their virtuous activity. There- 
fore if we would seek to perpetuate our country we 
must accomphsh it by the practice not only in the 
government itself of this morality but in our personal 
characters as men and citizens. The attention of the 



27 

world is then drawn to our land, for a nation which 
exists more through the love of discipline than through 
the strength of positive laws naturally attracts admira- 
tion and induces that respect which virtue always com- 
mands, thus conferring upon our republic that renown 
wherein consists the proper glory of a Commonwealth. 



The subject of these remarks, so vast and compre- 
hensive, is not to be considered within the limits to 
which at this time we are necessarily confined. It 
offers a broad field for our examination, affording in its 
detail to the speculations of the philosopher the widest 
range of inquiry, and to the friend of man, the patriot 
and Christian one of the noblest themes for contempla- 
tion. We have been looking beyond the written laws 
and charters of the Republic to view the unwritten 
laws of nature, existing independent of human enact- 
ment and which no human authority can enforce. 
They are the silken ties that unite and bind man- 
kind in one common brotherhood, that like the nerves 
and fibres of our earthly bodies act unseen but daily 
minister to our happiness, Tliese great things are for 
the consideration of all our citizens, deserving our chief 
attention . we would hope for the stability of our 
formal political organization. 

And what American citizen, who feels the glow of hon- 



28 

orable impulse within Ms soul, whose heart cherishes the 
ennobling emotions of patriotism and virtue, can survey 
the condition of his country without hoping that the 
advancing years will more than fulfil in reality all 
the prayei's and predictions of the immortal sages and 
fathers who sleep in the valley of the past? It is 
here that nature unveils her wonders in magnitude. 
Our country, stretching through every variety of clime, 
possesses within itself all elements of physical supe- 
riority. These are the means prepared by Providence 
to minister to our wants, through the developement 
and use of which our earthly happiness can be pro- 
moted. They are at our hand, illimitable treasures to 
aid our advancement to mental and moral superiority. 
And beyond all this, a system of free institutions has 
been here established which excites the admiration of 
the world. Society is organized for the equal bene- 
fit of all men, depending for its preservation upon the 
virtue of our citizens alone and a Commonwealth 
erected which is becoming the light and hope of 
nations. 

Consider well, then, ye who love your country, how 
you can establish amoug men that general understand- 
ing of what is proper and necessary to ensure their 
happiness through the maintenance of social order and 
discipline. Consider well how you can contribute to 
the milder glories, the more absolute preservation of 



29 

the state. Consider how you can surely, though slowly, 
erect a fabric of government that will depend not upon 
physical force nor upon human laws for duration, but 
upon that stronger arm, the mighty will, the intelli- 
gence and patriotism and virtue of a whole people. 
Look to the hearts and minds of citizens and not to 
your constitutions for that silent but great and endur- 
ing conservative power which will rebuke all efforts at 
disorganization, which in our own day has maintained the 
institutions of our federal Union, and which is the most 
glittering weapon wherewith to crusade against error. 
This improvement of man which we have considered, 
this discipline of state which is so paramount in impor- 
tance, form the only security we can have that our 
Republic will continue unchanged and unshorn of its 
fair proportions. They constitute the safeguards that 
will protect our institutions, and through their influence 
error will be exposed and left to die amid her wor- 
shippers, while silently exercising their controlling influ- 
ence they will calmly and steadily guide our citizens to 
all that is good and true and beneficial to mankind, 
like that old Talus 

"Made of yron mould, 
"Immoveable, resistlesse, without end; 
Who ill his hand an yron flale did hould, 
With which he thresht out folseliood, and did truth unfould." * 



* Faerie Queene, B. V. ch. I, xii. 



30 

And as we take tlioiight of tlie future magnitude 
and grandeur of the state and pierce with prophetic 
eye the dim vista of the coming centuries when all our 
beating hearts will be mingled with the common dust, 
how sublime the spectacle, how glorious the vision un- 
folded to our view! The reign of Peace and Truth 
and Happiness on earth, Virtue triumphant and the 
nature of man vindicated, while through the unnum- 
bered ages of the world our cities that are full of 
people will never sit solitary, our Republic that is great 
among the nations and princess among the' provinces 
will never become tributary. * 



* Lamentations II. 1. 



THE FOUETH AT EDEN. 



[Fivm the lliijj'alo Morning E.tpress, July 7, l(i85.J 

Tlie patriotic citizens of tlie towns of Eden, Evans, Brant, Boston 
Collins, Nortli Collins, Ilamburgli and East Hanibnrghj celebrated the 
National Anniversary by one of the largest gatherings ever witnessed in 
the South towns of Erie county. The day was beautiful, and the oc- 
casion called forth the greatest enthusiasm. At 11 o'clock a proces- 
sion was formed under the direction of Col. Ira Ayer of Evans, the 
Marshal of the day, and marched to a lovely grove where seats had 
been prepared. Major Taylor, of Evans, and his drum corps — late of 
the 110th Regiment — discoursed the national airs, and young ladies, 
appropriately draped, representing the States, walked in the procession. 
The exercises w^ere under the direction of James W. Green Es(j^., of 
Eden, President of the day, and consisted of singing by a Glee Club, 
and a prayer by Rev. Mr. Barrell, of Evans. The Declaration of In- 
dependence was appropriately read by C. S. Rathbun Esq., of Eden, 
followed by the inspiring strains of Yankee Doodle, after Avliich an ora- 
tion was delivered by Hon. James Sheldon of Buffalo, which all unite 
in characterizing ns one of I'are elo(pience, noble sentiment and fine 
power of thought. It Avas greatly applauded. 

The exercises at the stand concluded with singing by the Club, and 
the benediction by Rev. Mr. Horton. The procession being again 
formed, marched to the gro\'0 near the Hotel, where a magnificent 
dinner awaited its arrival. Over four hundred sat down at the tables 
and enjoyed tlie rich repast. Many of the returned veterans were 
present to participate in festivities made moi-e joyous tlirough their 
bravery. 



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